School of Thought
by haleyb333
Summary: When Alec is asked to teach a class on Downworlder equality at the Academy, he never expects to learn as much as he teaches, especially not when his lessons are coming from his students.


**As always, let me know what you thought! I'm fairly certain that this is my favorite thing I've ever written!**

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As Alec walked into the Academy, he looked around, idly wishing he'd had the chance to study there. But Alec knew that if he'd studied at the Academy, he never would have met Magnus, so he smiled to himself and reached over to take his husband's hand as they made their way to their room. Magnus visibly relaxed when Alec took hold of his hand, and Alec knew that it was because he truly didn't actually want to be there. It had taken a lot of convincing on Alec's part, and he'd mostly promised that he would make it worth Magnus's while.

The reason they were there in the first place is that Alec had been asked to teach a class on Downworlder equality, which was something that he'd automatically said yes to. Max and Rafael were staying with Isabelle and Simon, and Alec was terribly amused that that was part of the reason Magnus had finally decided to come. Being able to get away even for a few days was something that was hard to come by for the two of them, so Magnus had all but jumped at the chance as soon as he knew they would have it.

The Academy had asked Alec to speak because of the fact that he and Magnus had gotten the Law on Downworlder-Shadowhunter marriage. In the end, it had come down to their ability to simply annoy the Clave and keep from giving up when everyone else did, and Alec had never been so overjoyed than he was when they'd found out that it had actually worked. But walking into the classroom full of students later that day was an entirely different story. They were all first-years, and that fact was somehow much more intimidating than standing up in front of the Clave.

Alec ignored the stares he got from the Shadowhunter students; it was no surprise that they knew who he was, but he did notice the mundane students who seemed to react to his entrance. "As some of you seem to know, I am Alec Lightwood," he began pushing all his worries aside to start speaking to the class. "And what I'm here to speak to you about today is something that a lot of you will automatically dismiss, but I'm prepared for that."

Alec made a mental note of the students who already looked as though they were annoyed at the fact that he was there and those who looked as though they actually wanted to hear what he had to say. "Before we do that, however, humor me by raising your hand if you're mundane born." He wasn't at all surprised when the majority of the kids raised their hands. "Okay, now keep your hand up if you've ever met a Downworlder." Again, he wasn't surprised when only one student kept their hand up. Doing the same thing for the Shadowhunters, Alec still wasn't surprised when a few more of them said they had met a Downworlder.

"What I'm going to do now, is introduce you to a few Downworlders, and for each of them, I want you to tell me what the first thing you notice about them is. Tell me if there's anything about them that tells you what kind of Downworlder they are." Alec couldn't keep from smiling when Magnus walked into the room. Magnus easily ignored the stares he got from those who knew who he was. Alec simply spread his hands, indicating that the students could begin speaking at any time.

"He's a warlock," one of the mundane students said, surprising Alec by being the first to speak up, especially considering that she didn't seem to know who Magnus was. "His eyes are his mark." Alec inclined his head, but he caused a bit more confusion when he asked if there was anything else that indicated Magnus was a warlock other than his eyes. After several seconds, one of the Shadowhunter students spoke up and admitted that there wasn't.

Next, Alec asked Lily to come in, and this time things were a bit more interesting. "She's a vampire," someone said automatically, but when Alec asked why, he enjoyed making a bit harder for them. "She's not breathing." Alec turned and asked Lily to begin breathing, pointing out that many vampires practiced hiding the fact that they weren't breathing, especially when they wanted to blend in around Shadowhunters. "She has no pulse; you can't fake a pulse." Alec acknowledged the truth in this, but also pointed out that the mundane students couldn't see Lily's lack of pulse as easily as the Shadowhunters could.

After that, Alec called Kieran, who he and Magnus had become increasingly close to after their ordeal with Malcolm Fade. This time, the students had much more trouble coming up with things that obviously made Kieran a faerie other than different hair color and his pointed ears. Magnus snorted rather loudly when a mundane student asked, "Aren't fairies supposed to be really small with wings?" Alec's response had to be professional, so he only told the student to read his Codex.

The final person he had come in the room was Luke. And he was pleasantly surprised to see that no one could come up with any reason that Luke might be pegged as a werewolf other than the fact that the Shadowhunter students knew exactly who he was. Finally, Alec turned around to pointedly stare at Magnus who was still laughing over the faerie comment.

The next thing Alec did was bring in Jace's son, Michael, asking the class to tell him exactly what Michael was. He laughed when they said this wasn't fair, that if the child was a Shadowhunter he wouldn't yet have runes. "Well, he's not a warlock because he doesn't have a mark," someone said, only amusing Alec even further.

"Well, as you can see," he turned around to make sure Magnus was now glamouring his eyes as he initially thought Magnus would be. "Warlock's marks are very easily glamoured, and Michael here is just old enough to know how to glamour his if he's a warlock. Plus, there are various marks, like webbed feet, that can be easily hidden with clothes." Alec was happy when they decided that the only thing they could actually rule out was vampire. That had started with the comment, "Turning children is illegal," to which Alec had taken joy in replying, "Killing Downworlders is also illegal, but plenty of Shadowhunters do that."

After he revealed that Michael was a Shadowhunter and that picking a child was, in fact, just a bit unfair, he finally called Tessa Gray into the room. He knew this one was entirely unfair, that no one would ever think to guess that Tessa was part Shadowhunter part warlock, but he had a point to make, and if being unfair was the way to do it, then he was going to play the game in any way he had to.

They also ruled out that Tessa was a vampire on the principle that she had a pulse. Alec smiled when Magnus chuckled, obviously thinking about the fact that Tessa could make herself look like absolutely anything she wanted to. Alec watched as the students began debating, trying to figure out exactly what Tessa was. They eventually decided on werewolf, saying that Shadowhunters had runes, faeries had pointed ears at the very least, and admitting that they couldn't entirely rule out that she wasn't a warlock.

Explaining that Tessa was both a Shadowhunter and a warlock was a bit harder than Alec had expected it to be, but the effect it had on the students was exactly what he wanted. "Someone tell me what reason I had for doing all of this today," he said, smiling as Michael jumped into Magnus's arms. The room remained silent in a way he'd expected, so he sat patiently until one of the mundane students finally spoke up.

"You're trying to point out that there's no difference between Shadowhunters and Downworlders or even mundanes," the student said, and Alec smiled at her as warmly as possible. She was the particular student who had humored him the most, seeming to want to learn more than anyone else in the room. Alec looked away from her, his expression hardening slightly when a couple of the Shadowhunter students laughed as though he was insane.

"I didn't come here to preach at you," Alec began, going into his planned speech after taking a deep breath and focusing on the fact that Magnus was there with him. "Your teachers preach at you enough. And I know that not all of you will be convinced by what I have to say. I'm not even hoping to convince all of you. Today, I'm just hoping that I can convince even one of you. If I change one mind, just one, there's no telling what kind of change that could make."

Alec smiled when the Shadowhunter students shut up, even if it was marginally. "Some of you mundane students might not know that Magnus is my husband, but more to the point, some of you might not know that we have two children. One of them is a Shadowhunter, but the other is a warlock." Thinking about his sons made Alec miss them more than he would have thought possible, but he kept speaking, almost as if this entire class was on his little family's behalf. "The point I'm trying to make today is that if I'd ever once believed that Downworlders were beneath me, I wouldn't have lucked into the best family a man could ask for."

He watched as some of the students, more than he would have expected, smiled at that particular declaration. "But even more to the point, if I'd ever once thought that Downworlders were beneath me, both of my sons would likely not be alive today. I never would have ended up with Magnus, I never would have decided that I could easily raise and love a warlock child, and I never would have even ended up saving my Shadowhunter son because Magnus and I would not have been where he was that day." Alec almost cringed at the thought of not having his children, at the thought that he might not have ever fallen in love with Magnus.

"The point I would love for you all to see is that one change in the way you see those around you can change your entire life; it can change the life of so many people that you could never begin to count them all." Alec paused for a second, all but praying that he was getting through to at least one student. "One little change in attitude, one little change in your perception, and any number of lives could be saved. I'm not going to preach to you that Downworlders are people, I think you all understand that well enough. But what I want you to know is that people in general deserve respect, they deserve love, and most importantly, they deserve to be saved."

When Alec ended the class, the room was satisfyingly silent for several long seconds. He began quietly speaking to Magnus as the students slowly filed out of the room, but when Magnus nodded his head toward something behind Alec, he turned to see something he'd never expected. The girl and boy standing behind him were obviously Shadowhunter (although Alec would never admit that he'd made the assumption based on their looks) and they definitely wanted to say something to him. "Mr. Lightwood," the boy began, not meeting his eyes in a nervous sort of way. "We just wanted to say thank you. We thought you might want to know that you changed our minds today."

The only thing Alec could find in himself to do was smile and thank them, but when they moved and he saw one of the mundanes behind him, he couldn't help but become even more surprised. This time, it was the girl who had seemed like she wanted nothing more than to simply listen to him all of class, and he could easily see that she was much more emotional than any of the others had been. She looked back and forth between Magnus and Alec before finally speaking up, her voice very soft.

"My parents are warlocks," she said, smiling at the way Magnus and Alec looked at her with thinly veiled surprise. "And the only reason I was ever able to become a Shadowhunter and not have to give them up is because of the two of you." Alec smiled at her once more. The old Law had said that mundanes who wished to Ascend could no longer have contact with their families, even if their families were part of the Shadow World. The new Law, the one that had been created after Magnus and Alec had secured their right to marry in a Shadowhunter ceremony, said that mundanes wishing to Ascend only needed to keep their family ignorant if their family was genuinely mundane.

"Being here has been hard. My parents have been nothing but supportive, they know this was always my dream." Alec had to look away for a moment when he realized there were tears in the girl's eyes. "I just wanted to thank you both for everything you've done. You don't truly know how many lives you're saving." At that, the girl turned away much more abruptly than Alec had expected. He turned toward Magnus to see tears in his husband's eyes as well, and suddenly, everything they'd ever been through meant more to Alec than it ever had before.

When they got home at the end of the week, Alec found himself scooping up his children faster than he ever had, suddenly so thankful for both of them that he could hardly function. After they'd put the boys to bed that night, Magnus wrapped his arms around Alec from behind, causing Alec to smile in the most content of ways. "You're my hero, Alexander," he said, his voice full of both love and pride. Alec turned in Magnus's arms to give Magnus a soft kiss, laughing when they were interrupted by Max, who wanted a bedtime story. Magnus leaned in to him one more time before finally letting go. "Guess you'd better go to take care of one more crisis."


End file.
